Mountain Dew Unveils Aluminum Bottle Series

@@img1PURCHASE, NY – May 15, 2007 – Mountain Dew today announced the launch of Green Label Art, a limited-edition series of aluminum bottles featuring designs created by a variety of artists. The Green Label Art series (www.greenlabelart.com) will be released May through October in select markets. This series marks the first time a carbonated soft drink will be packaged in an aluminum bottle in the U.S.

The Green Label Art artists are an eclectic mix, ranging in style and notoriety, from apparel and sneaker designers to a vinyl action/toy designer and a lead singer from a top indie band. In addition, Paul Rodriguez, a professional skateboarder sponsored by Mountain Dew, collaborated on a design with skater-turned-artist, Chris Pastras.

The artists were given a plain, 16-ounce aluminum bottle and asked to create their expressions of Mountain Dew. Treating the bottles as a canvas, the artists used a variety of approaches and applications including: tattoo design, cut-and-paste materials, paint, charcoals and computer graphics.

“Green Label Art is about Mountain Dew facilitating creativity and self-expression that goes well beyond the package artwork,” said Frank Cooper, VP of marketing for Mountain Dew. “These artists used a unique Mountain Dew bottle as their canvas and extended it to other related projects such as short films, clothing and gallery showings.”

The bottles themselves are only part of the picture Mountain Dew is painting for Green Label Art. Each artist has found different ways to incorporate his Mountain Dew designs into other projects:

* Graffiti artist Dr. Revolt has customized a tricked out low-rider bicycle, painting the frame in the same style as his Mountain Dew bottle

* Tattoo artist Troy Denning collaborated with New Era on a limited-edition hat based on his design

* Guitarist and lead singer for Hawthorne Heights JT Woodruff will feature
his design on the cover of his special-edition live CD.
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All of the artists’ projects will be on display at their individual Mountain Dew bottle launch events. The first bottle release event, which will double as a launch for the program, is on Thursday, May 17 in Los Angeles. It will feature an exhibit of the collaboration between Rodriguez (P-Rod) and Pastras and will take place in the Chinatown district.

A multimedia micro-site, www.greenlabelart.com, launches today. The site will feature artist portfolios, behind-the-scene videos and detailed event highlights. In addition, Green Label Art is hosting a consumer-generated bottle design contest. Consumers will have all the tools necessary to design an individualized bottle through an interactive submission platform on the website. The general public can then vote for their favorite consumer-designed bottle. The winning artist will be awarded $10,000 and be a part of the next wave of Green Label Art designs.